Efforts at cultural rejuvenation in downtown have flickered for decades, but at no point in its history has the area been as poised for change as it is today. This time around, the team of business leaders, politicians and architects behind the rejuvenation pack a serious punch.

For some of them, it’s even getting personal. Real estate moguls like Eli Broad and Jim Thomas approach the rejuvenation of downtown as a personal career challenge, because they know that the city they had a hand in building is lacking a meaningful core.

“For several decades, I have believed that the metropolitan area needed a heart, a place where all people from all parts of the city can come to, but it does not have that center now,” Broad said.

Broad, who once helped change the landscape of L.A. by building affordable homes for suburbanites, is spearheading the Grand Avenue Project, a massive plan for cultural improvement in the downtown core.

Ironically, the billionaire co-founder of Kaufman and Broad (now KB Home) who made part of his fortune off suburban sprawl has turned his efforts these days to drawing people downtown, and it’s not about money.

Besides rallying members of the private sector like Thomas and government leaders like outgoing Mayor Richard Riordan and Gov. Gray Davis, his Broad Family Foundation has contributed millions to the rejuvenation effort.

“It’s important that in our multicultural society we have a place where we can all come together,” Broad said. “If we want a vibrant city, we have to be all together, as opposed to a group of neighborhoods. That’s my motivation.”

Cultural landmarks

Broad was responsible for bringing two of the city’s and some say the world’s most remarkable buildings to downtown: Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall and Arata Isozaki’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

The steel is up on the Concert Hall, and its wavy walls are already turning heads. It is widely believed that the Gehry-designed building, to be completed in 2003, will be the most important landmark in L.A.’s architectural history. Like the architect’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Concert Hall is expected to draw an international audience.

Meanwhile, real estate developer Jim Thomas is also devoting considerable energy and resources into downtown revitalization.

“What we’re talking about here is putting a heart in L.A.,” Thomas said, echoing friend and colleague Broad. “Grand Avenue, like no other place in L.A., has an opportunity to be that heart. It’s not possible to have a successful city without having a strong downtown.”

So why bother getting involved?

“My wife asks me that all the time,” Thomas said. “It’s a challenge that I’ve taken on that gives me satisfaction. It’s important that it be done correctly. For some strange reason, that appeals to me.”

The downtown renaissance, which has been heralded so many times that the word has almost become a clich & #233;, is real this time, Thomas said, for several reasons.

“You have two terrific buildings coming online in the next few years the Disney Concert Hall and the Cathedral (of Our Lady of the Angels) that will be attractions on an international basis,” he said. “The county of L.A. and the city of L.A. have come together to develop a master plan for the region. Residential is booming in the area. We’re starting to get some critical mass.”

Few people have thought about reaching that critical mass as much as Joanne Kozberg, president of the Music Center of L.A. County, a complex of three theaters the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre.

“The most exciting opportunities have come from strong communication between the city, the county, the state and the private sector,” Kozberg said. “There is a broad recognition that we need to leverage each other to reach critical mass downtown.”

A common criticism of the downtown revitalization is that it consists of a few amazing but disparate projects. But Kozberg insists that, behind the scenes, civic leaders are working tirelessly to bring the cultural institutions together.

Tying pieces together

“We know that we’re not seizing upon our strengths unless we look at all of the jewels in the necklace,” she said. “We see the Music Center as linking with the other elements of downtown. It’s that kind of linkage that will create the critical mass. It’s the arts, residential, commerce and public services, such as city and state government, that make downtown work.”

Kozberg and her counterpart at nearby MOCA, Jeremy Strick, highlighted the residential development projects of Tom Gilmore’s Gilmore Associates, which are injecting life into downtown.

“There are a lot of different things coming together downtown right now,” said Strick, who is director of MOCA. “There’s a change in the residential market now, and Tom Gilmore’s work is an example. There’s a real sense of new energy coming into that market. People are realizing that downtown can be an exciting place to live.”

Put that together with other forces like the Concert Hall, the cathedral and the growth of other downtown cultural institutions, and you have what Strick said is “a fantastic picture at the moment and an even more promising picture for the future.”

There is just as much excitement for projects at the south end of downtown around the Staples Center, where players like Rupert Murdoch and Philip Anschutz have a hand in plans to create a mix of retail, entertainment, commercial and residential development that will link the Staples Center to downtown.

That project, called the L.A. Sports and Entertainment District, is expected to soon be considered for final approval by the City Council.

“I’m very excited about what’s happening at Staples,” Broad said. “I’m excited about making everything from Exposition Park to Bunker Hill a place where people can easily come, park once and explore the downtown.”

“Staples Center is drawing people downtown that had not been to downtown for a long time, if ever” Thomas agreed. “They’re realizing that there’s quite a bit happening.”

Quite a bit will also be happening behind closed doors, as leaders like Thomas, Broad, Gilmore, Anschutz, incoming Mayor James Hahn and other players hammer out future plans and funding agreements.

“We’re in the very early innings,” Broad said. “Public funding is iffy. But no one argues that there is a need for having a heart of a city in the metropolitan area. It’s a question of how you put it together and how you get the funding. I’ve got a lot of energy for it.”